The invention relates to devices for temporarily holding a nut in place between the jaws of a wrench to facilitate the starting of nuts on bolts located in positions of comparative inaccessibility.
In the past nut-holders for wrenches have been designed that detachably clip onto the shank portion of a wrench. U.S. Pat. No. 2,369,400 discloses a nut-holder having a pair of spring fingers 7 and 8 that are compressed together and then inserted into the bore of a nut for holding it in position. U.S. Pat. No. 2,557,628 discloses a nut-holding attachment that utilizes a pair of arms 22 and 23 to capture a nut between itself and the open jaw of the wrench. U.S. Pat. No. 2,697,371 discloses a wrench attachment having a slide member 6 whose enlarged ends 7 and 8 are slid longitudinally to cover a portion of the open jaw of the wrench in order to capture the nut therebetween. The most recent nut-holder attachment for a wrench is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,188. It utilizes a pair of fingers 15 and 16 having tab portions 17 and 18 that capture the nut therebetween.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel nut-holder attachment for a wrench for facilitating starting the nuts upon bolts located in a location inaccessible for both hands of the person using the wrench.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel nut-holder attachment that fits a range of wrench sizes and types.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel nut-holder attachment that may be used with an open jaw wrench or a closed jaw wrench or a wrench having its jaw angularly offset with respect to its shank portion.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel nut-holder attachment for a wrench that is simple in construction and comparatively economical to manufacture.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a novel nut-holder attachment for a wrench that may be easily attached or removed from a wrench.